Day 20: the little bighorn

Carol:

Heading out early, we made it to the Little Bighorn battlefield by 10am. Unfortunately, Colin caught a flat on the highway, so while he fixed his flat, I made conversation with the trading post owner. I learned how the Crow language has evolved from each syllable having a meaning, to a point where only collections of syllables form words. The site of the Little Bighorn Battlefield was very interesting in that each information plaque presented viewpoints from both the US army and Cheyenne warriors. It also made me incredibly sad that while the battle was won, the nomadic Indian way of life was lost.
After fixing 2 of my flats and one more of Colin's, we pushed on to Ashland. While 65 miles would typically not have been daunting, the strong headwinds kept us from making the progress I would have liked. Crossing 20 miles in 3 hours, I can honestly say I have never fought harder to gain mileage on my bike.
While the ride to Ashland was disheartening, we found an incredible Warmshowers host in Ashland. A JVC, our host and his 5 colleagues had chosen to dedicate a year of service to the St. Labre Indian School. As a former AmeriCorps VISTA, it was great to hear about their work and their upcoming adventures. We also learned a lot more about life on the reservation and complications facing the Crow and Northern Cheyenne people. We were also happy to share bike touring tips with our host, who was planning his own bike tour to Seattle and San Francisco.
After a filling dinner of pasta, fish and muffins, Colin and I welcomed our warm beds for the night.

89 miles.

1153 miles total.